Old Age in the United States, 1900 (ICPSR 8428)

This data collection describes the social conditions of the
older population of the United States at the turn of the century.
Detailed information, extracted from the 1900 United States Census
manuscript schedules, is provided on household composition and family
structure for each sampled older person. Ecological characteristics of
the county of residence, e.g., the percentage of the county's
population that is foreign born, are provided for most sampled older
persons. In addition, occupational and ethnic characteristics of f... (more info)

This data collection describes the social conditions of the
older population of the United States at the turn of the century.
Detailed information, extracted from the 1900 United States Census
manuscript schedules, is provided on household composition and family
structure for each sampled older person. Ecological characteristics of
the county of residence, e.g., the percentage of the county's
population that is foreign born, are provided for most sampled older
persons. In addition, occupational and ethnic characteristics of family
heads appearing on the same sampled census page as the older person (on
census pages grouped by street location) are reported.

Access Notes

The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public.
Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.

This study is maintained and distributed by the National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA), the aging program within ICPSR. NACDA
is sponsored by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Heath (NIH).

Dataset(s)

WARNING: Because this study has many datasets, the download all files option has been suppressed, and you will need to download one dataset at a time.

Universe:
Noninstitutionalized population of the United States aged
55 and older in 1900.

Data Types:
survey data

Data Collection Notes:

Age distribution: 55-64 (N is 2,002), 65-74 (N is
2,203), 75-84 (N is 690), 85 and older (N is 108). The values for the
weighting variable "Weighting Factor II" are incorrect. The SPSS
statements that will correctly weight the sample are given in the
codebook.

Methodology

Sample:
Stratified sample of 56 counties (excluding cities with
populations of 25,000 or more) and 44 urban Primary Sampling Units
(PSUs). Cities with populations over 25,000 were triple-sampled. Sample
members were drawn from clusters defined by manuscript census pages.

Data Source:

manuscript census schedules from the United States
Census for 1900

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: